6 New Books to Read On Your Porch This Month

August weather is readin’ weather. When it’s 99 degrees and 5,000 percent humidity, there's nothing you can do except sit on a porch with a mojito and a good book and wait for fall. (And if you don't have a porch, read on someone else's porch.) Here are the six new books we’re reading this month.

Flood of Fireby Amitav Ghosh

August 4, 2015

Flood of Fire is the big honking cherry (600 pages) on top of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy, an ensemble epic set in the Calcutta of the Opium Wars. Come for new insights into a particularly fraught era of globalization, stay for Ghosh’s memorable characters and enlightening slang. Gamahuche, for example, is your new favorite word for cunnilingus. The trilogy (Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke are the first and second books, respectively) is a cross-generational dude-nerd gem.

Fortune Smilesby Adam Johnson

August 18, 2015

In 2012 Johnson’s novel The Orphan Master’s Son earned him a Pulitzer. That book was an enveloping look at life in North Korea, and Fortune Smiles explores similar themes through six short stories. Johnson is an incredible storyteller with a dark sense of humor, and each story feels complete and meaty. Nom.

The Bangkok Assetby John Burdett

August 4, 2015

If you were worried Burdett would lose steam after five Bangkok novels, worry no more. Burdett is still going strong with the sixth book, The Bangkok Asset, once again starring outlier detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of the Royal Thai Police Force. In The Bangkok Asset we get more of Sonchai than in previous books. Sonchai's personal narrative, a juicy murder, compelling villains, and Burdett’s major scene-setting are the stuff good thrillers are made of.

Darkness the Color of Snowby Thomas Cobb

August 18, 2015

Darkness the Color of Snow is much grislier than the country-western novel that put Cobb on the map, Crazy Heart. A terrible accident throws a young patrolman into the middle of a tense small-town crime thriller. Darkness the Color of Snow is fast and suspenseful, and depressing in the way that Cormac McCarthy’s books are depressing (very.)

Under Tiberiusby Nick Tosches

August 4, 2015

In Under Tiberius, a fictional “Nick Tosches” discovers a memoir by one of Jesus’ contemporaries that describes a very different Jesus. Tosches gets points for a book that is joyfully irreverent in a way that books simply aren’t anymore. The philandering, scoundrel version of Jesus is jarring, but Under Tiberius is engaging as a narrative. At the very least, Under Tiberius will definitely spice up your book club.

Barefoot to Avalonby David Payne

August 4, 2015

David Payne’s memoir builds around the death of his younger brother George A., who died in a car crash while helping Payne move in 2000. George A.’s death frames a superhonest, affecting personal narrative; Payne writes about his childhood, his parents, and his career with a novelist’s sensitivity to detail.